returning to simple living

Tag Archives: coconut oil

It’s been a while since I wrote about anything to do with homemade products, so I thought I’d show something simple that I used on my hair last night.

I have curly hair that tends to dry out easily. I wake up with freakishly frizzy hair that looks like the stylists for Whitesnake and Motley Crue broke into my house while I was sleeping and teased my hair. The dad is kind and averts his eyes and says nothing. Usually I am able to beat it into submission with a shower and some kind of hair product, but lately it was getting a little out of hand. Last night I made a quick hot oil treatment and the results are nice, submissive shiny curls this morning. Mostly. The curls tend to do their own thing. I call it a good day if I look less like Richard Simmons and more like Phyllis Diller. But it was shiny. And soft. And more importantly, it wasn’t frizzy.

I used coconut oil, honey and apple cider vinegar; each ingredient on its own has conditioning and moisturizing qualities. The apple cider vinegar also removes hair product residue from hair, works as a natural de-tangler and leaves hair soft and smooth. I’ve used it in the past as a rinse after shampooing (mixed with water in a squirt bottle) and my hair always felt great afterwards. And you stop smelling like a french fry as soon as your hair dries.

This made enough to cover my chin length hair, so if you have longer hair just mix a larger batch. The measurements don’t have to be precise, just in approximately the same ratio as below.

Moisturizing Coconut Oil, Honey and Apple Cider Vinegar Hair Mask

2 tbsp coconut oil

1 tbsp honey

2 tsp apple cider vinegar

Mix together in a glass jar or container that can be heated. Warm in a hot water bath or place in the microwave for a few seconds until the oil and honey are warmed and runny. Apply to dry hair, cover with an old towel or shower cap and leave on for at least 30 minutes before washing hair.

I had to borrow the new cap that I bought for our new bathroom caddy (a wine bottle holder that we found hidden in our bathtub after our annual ugly gift exchange).

Yesterday I felt the need to make the house smell nice. The kids were away – one at a basketball game and the other had gone with her dad to pick up another pony for the zoo farm.

I found a recipe in a library book, Leslie Beck’s Healthy Kitchen and modified it somewhat (as I seem to be unable to stop myself from doing) to use ingredients that I have on hand and coconut oil. This is my result:

Cranberry Apple Granola

2 cups rolled oats (I use large flake, not quick oats)

1/2 cup sliced almonds

1/4 cup unsweetened coconut

1/4 cup seeds (I used pumpkin)

2 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp ground ginger

2 tbsp coconut oil

¼ cup honey

¼ cup unsweetened applesauce

1 cup chopped dried apples

¾ cup dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 300F. Heat honey until it’s thinned and melt the coconut oil. Add with applesauce and spices into the dry ingredients and mix well. Spread onto well-greased baking sheet (or use a silicone sheet like I did) and bake for 15 minutes. Stir, bake for another 5 minutes, stir again and bake for another 5 minutes until golden brown.

Once it has cooled, add in the dried fruit.

My measurements are often approximations. It’s pretty easy to experiment with granola and different amounts and ingredients. I didn’t have plain unsweetened applesauce, but I did have apple/raspberry sauce in the freezer from last fall – and I couldn’t tell the difference. Next time I might try a little bit more ginger – I couldn’t taste it much. I might also make it with dried blueberries instead of the apples. If you have any suggestions, let me know.

I should mention that the dad has made several batches of granola himself now. Next step, socks with sandals.

As I mentioned earlier, we’ve been adding a bit of coconut oil to our diet because it’s supposed to have lots of healthy benefits. Searches of different websites have repeated most of the same claims. I’ll take the claims with a grain of salt, but I’m willing to try an oil that has the potential of being healthier than most. So far we’ve noticed that it makes great lip balm for the licky small squeaky kid and it makes you poop like a 2 month old. I suppose both are good things.

I also discovered that you can make hard shell chocolate ice cream sauce with it. We just made ice cream. Match made in heaven.

Hard Shell Chocolate Sauce

Heat the chocolate and coconut oil together in a bowl over some simmering water until smooth and fully melted. Remove from heat and stir in the salt. Let cool slightly and spoon over ice cream. It will harden after a few seconds.

Store any leftovers (ha!) in the fridge. Reheat as needed.

** I would bet that this would be really good with a couple of drops of peppermint extract added to it.